Balancing Budgets with Bad Faith

Fact: The state of New Jersey faces a massive shortfall in its pension accounts -- a $54 billion hole.

Fact: Governors going back (at least) as far as Christie Whitman have shorted the pension fund, turning the payment into a fungible budget balancing tool that, as I wrote way back in 1995, was going to come back to bite the state on its dysfunctional tuchus.

So now, with a massive debt that will have to be paid, the politicians who helped create the problem want reform. But instead of requiring the state and local governments to pay what the actuarial figures show is needed to meet its long-term obligation, state and local workers are being told they'll have to give back.

Doesn't anyone else see a problem here?

Gov. Chris Christie is the biggest reformer in this debate. But he is no different than the folks he's replaced. He withheld a $3 billion payment from the pension fund last year and is poised to withhold money again this year. The maneuver allowed him to balance the budget while also bashing state and local workers.

So now, with the state's bond rating being lowered from AA to AA-, which will bring higher interest rates and fees for borrowing, the governor and legislative Democrats are pointing fingers and casting blame.

The upshot: Even as we continue to pay the highest property taxes in the nation, our public workers--the police who patrol our streets, the teachers who teach our kids and men and women who clear the snow, fix the roads, take care of our seniors and keep watch over our environment--have no guarantees that the money they've been counting on in their retirement will even be there.

Instead of pointing fingers, elected officials in New Jersey should be looking in the mirror.